Kurtuluş: Istanbul’s Neighborhood of Taste

Lacking significant historic monuments, architectural treasures or Bosphorus views, there can be only one reason that Istanbulites love the buzzing Kurtuluş neighborhood so much: the stellar food. During the day in this unassuming historic residential neighborhood, a hive of small artisanal shops – charcuteries, meze counters, ice cream parlors, bakers, butchers, dairy specialists – uphold city traditions otherwise lost. After dark, a hopping scene of craft beer bars and kebab houses hold it down until the morning, when the weekly organic market attracts those serious about what they eat and cook with. To top it off, there’s a whole street lined with shops and restaurants devoted to the fabled breakfast spread of eastern Turkey’s Erzincan region. Not surprisingly, a visit to Kurtuluş can be an eye-popping and gut-busting experience. But step back from the table and you’ll notice a rich cultural diversity no longer present in most parts of the city, an open-minded attitude, a cosmopolitan air and laid back sophistication, particularly when it comes to food. That’s the Kurtuluş state of mind.

This full-day tour of the neighborhood – still home to important Greek and Armenian communities, as well as newcomers from Turkey’s east – will take in very best of the neighborhood’s bounty, honoring the people and places that keep local culinary life alive and well. We’ll start with a tribute to the neighborhood’s Rum, or Greek, heritage with an exclusive visit to a sports club belonging to that historic community, where we’ll have our first breakfast, followed by a stop for the heavenly dairy delights of Erzincan. We’ll walk off breakfast with visits to local artisans – artichoke peelers, cuckoo clock repairmen, Armenian book venders – as then begin grazing on our way to lunch. There will be stunning meze samples, including top-grade stuffed vine leaves and topik, a classic Armenian speciality. Down the street, kebabs at a real-deal grill house will arrive sizzling, fresh from the fire. Along the way, we’ll sample street food from the Mediterranean port city of Mersin and share a couple plates of the daily special in a cozy family-run lokanta. Depending on the season, there may be boza, a fermented millet drink with Ottoman roots, or Turkish-style ice cream at a beloved dairy bar run by the third generation of a local family.

When our movable feast in Kurtuluş has come to an end, you’ll see what we mean about what makes this neighborhood so unique, and, like many people, you may not want to leave. Not to worry: here in Istanbul’s most diverse streets, you are always welcome back.